1st Day of Kindergarten

Another roll of film delivered these images:  Ethan's First Day of Kindergarten. 

 Sigh...that little face just tugs at my heartstrings.  

 There's something about being 5 and a half.  Everything is so bright and exciting, 

and, while there was a lot of anxiety (on both our parts!), he was very eager to go. 

Demonstrating his newly acquired skill.  

Meg was actually the one who finally taught him to tie his shoelaces. 

 Ready to go!!  

 Ethan, Javier, Angelina, and ?? .  Not sure who the other girl might be.

 Apparently, I felt the need to take a picture every three seconds.

  Sorry about that, buddy!

 Where is the bus, Mommy?

 Fluffy the Bus Driver was Ethan's first experience with benign neglect.   

She very much reminded me of this bus driver:  

GOOD MORNING, CHILDREN.

 Oh, boy.  There he goes!!

At least my tears were all for Ethan that day.

Meghan would spend two more years with me at the preschool, 

drawing me pictures, and taking Slippy every single special day. 

Another roll of film features Slippy prominently, so we'll probably see more of her!

Just for comparison, here is a 1st day of school picture from this past fall.   Gah!!

Slip-n-Sliding to the Chiropractor

Well, apparently my life is crazy during the school year, because I haven't posted since LAST JULY.   Hmm.   Laziness is abounding in many non-required areas in addition to blogging, such as dusting, car vacuuming, and book organizing.   As we speak, many books are organized in that they were pushed under the edge of my bed in the order I read them.  Soon, Matt will be able to lean over and pick a book that is peeking out from under his side, competing with his Cabela's catalogs.

Have no fear, because a new source of blog posts has come to light, as I found about 20 rolls of undeveloped camera film in the back of one of our junk drawers.   It would be admirable if I had found them from unprompted decluttering, but  I'm not that spontaneous, so they were actually a byproduct of a superfund cleanup of our kitchen in prep for renovation.  That's a post for another day...

At any rate, there were some real treasures in those rolls of film.  Most appear to be from late 2005/early 2006, including this charming vignette:

SETTING UP THE SLIP-N-SLIDE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

Yay!!  Fun with water!

Aunt Jenny and Daddy hook up the hose.

Ethan takes the first slide, and Meg goes next...

 NO!!!   I NOT YIKE DIS!!!!

Meghan is somewhat confused about how to go about this new activity.

Daddy decides to intervene assist. 

 Giving a little boost...

WHAABAM.

PULL BACK!! PULL BACK!!  TOO MUCH!!

Meg decides (miraculously!!) that This Is Fun.

It's a Slip-n-Slide Success Story!!

Circa 1989

Scary.  On a number of levels...

                                   

       

        

A Look Back at Dance Picture Day...

Dance Picture Day, 2012.  Last year's dance pictures ended up with this mood.  Luckily, God granted us a speck of maturity this year, and things were much more enjoyable!  Could have something to do with the blood vow we took at the beginning of the day.  And the bribery over breakfast.  At any rate, enjoy.  

 We started out at Allegheny Crepes and Creamery with some crepes and bacon.  

Then we went to the studio and the fun began.

Fascinators were all the rage this year.  

Meggy had two similar identical ones, for ballet and for jazz.  

 This was actually taken on a previous day, but green eye make up was also a thrill for the girls. 

THEN THE CHALLENGE STARTED.  YES, A NORMAL PICTURE OF MEGHAN.
sigh...

This may have been my fatal error, in hindsight.

Later she decided she wanted one of those teen-age-jumping-in-the-air-type pictures.  This requires more patience than I have, apparently, because we never did get one.  

   

                                                               

Then she was distracted by Ninja Turtles...

  

Hmmm, didn't really go that smooth, did it Mom?  

No.  No, it didn't. 

Oh, well. Totally worth it.